Housing Report Stings Local Companies

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Shares in local companies touched by the housing and real estate markets fell Monday after the National Association of Realtors reported that home sales fell in July for the fifth-straight month, leaving the U.S. housing market with its biggest glut of unsold homes in nearly 16 years.


The gloomy report said that there is now a 9.6-month supply of homes for sale on the market, up from 9.1-months reported in June marking the highest number since October 1991.


The report also said that home sales for July were down 0.2 percent from June while 5.7 percent more homes were put on the market. Prices also decreased for the 12th straight month, the report said.


After making up ground last week, many of L.A.’s real estate, homebuilder and mortgage lending companies took a hit Monday after word of the report hit Wall Street.


Santa Monica-based Fremont General Corp., whose shares were up more than 24 percent last week, lost more than 12 percent Monday to $4.47.


Shares in Calabasas-based Countrywide Financial Corp. were also down 5.1 percent to $19.94, a week after the nation’s largest mortgage lender gained 12 percent.


Shares in Pasadena-based lender IndyMac Corp. also lost 4 percent to $23 while Santa Monica-based Anworth Mortgage lost 3.2 percent to $5.07.


Two area homebuilders also lost ground, with Los Angeles-based KB Home dropping 3.4 percent to $30.90 and Calabasas-based Ryland Group Inc. shed 4.3 percent to $30.52. Even Westlake Village-based Move Inc., which posts listings on the Web, lost 4.7 percent to $2.46.


Shares in El Segundo-based CB Richard Ellis Group also lost 2 percent Monday to $30.15. Shares in the world’s largest real estate company, which deals almost exclusively in commercial real estate, have dropped more than 22 percent since February.

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